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Welcome to my blog. I am honored to have you visit. I hope you'll find my articles a blessing. I welcome your input and especially comments and questions.

I write as a Christian from Jerusalem, Israel about Biblical subjects.

I am particularly interested in the subjects of children, families, women's issues, corporal punishment, science and nature as these subjects relate to the Holy Scriptures.

For more information, see my website: www.biblechild.com

With every good wish - Samuel Martin

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

A Trip Down a River To The Source - Part Five

A Trip Down a River To The Source - Part Five

Abraham lived in a country full of "deceitful
brooks"

When we talk about
brooks, we think of these bubbling streams full of jumping fish and clean
water, but when the English Bible versions use the term "brook" it is
a bit unfortunate because it contributes a little bit to our misconceptions
about the Bible lands. However, if we are talking about water sources which are
irregular, fleeting, disappearing and here today and gone tomorrow, the region
where Abraham lived is full of these.

To really understand
the nature of these 'deceitful brooks" we really need a first-hand account
to help us understand what Abraham was choosing when he chose to stay up in the
hill country. Professor Hackett, who visited the Holy Land about 150 years ago
gives a wonderful picture of what I am talking about here. In his fascinating
book "Illustrations of Scripture Suggested By A Tour Through The Holy
Land", in a section titled 'The Deceitful Brook' (pg. 20) he says:

"On the second
of April I crossed a stone bridge over the bed of a stream to the right of the
village of Kulonieh, an hour and a half north-west of Jerusalem. It was then
entirely destitute of water. Prokesch, a German traveler, who passed here a few
weeks later in the season, speaks of it as a rushing stream when he saw it.
Otto von Richter, who was here in August, though he mentions the place under a
wrong name, says that is contained then a little water. Salzbacher, who saw the
brook near the end of June, says that it was entirely dry. Richardson, an
English traveler, speaks of it on the fifteenth of April as 'a small brook,
trickling down through the valley.' It varies not only in winter, and summer,
but at the same season in different years. It may be taken, however, as a fair
example of what is true of Eastern brooks in general. They flow with water
during the rainy season; but after that, are liable to be soon dried up, or, if
they contain water, contain it only for a longer or shorter time, according to
their situation and the severity of the heat of particular years. Hence, the
traveler in quest of water must often be disappointed when he comes to such
streams. he may find them entirely dry; or, he may find the water gone at the
place where he approaches them, though it may still linger in other places
which elude his observation; he may perceive, from the moisture of the ground,
that the last drops have just disappeared, and that he has arrived but a few
hours too late for the attainment of his object.

The chances of
obtaining water in the desert are equally precarious. The inter torrents there,
owing to the rapidity with which the sand absorbs them, are still more
transient. The spring, which supplied a well yesterday, may fail today; or the
drifting sand may choke it up, and obliterate every trace of it. On the ninth
day of my journey, after leaving Cairo, we heard of a well at some distance
from the regular course, and, as the animals (except the camels) needed to be
watered, we turned aside to visit the place. We traveled for some miles over
immense sand-heaps and under a burning sun, with the thermometer at
ninety Fahrenheit. It was out lot to be disappointed. We found the well,
indeed, but without a drop of water in it that could be reached by us. The
wind had blown the sand into it, and buried it up to such a depth, that all
hope of relief from that source was cut off.

This liability of a
person in the East to be deceived in his expectation of finding water is the
subject of repeated allusion in the Scriptures. In Job 6:15, it furnishes an
expressive image for representing the fickleness and treachery of false-hearted
friends.

'My brethren have
dealt deceitfully like a brook,

As the channel of
brooks which pass away;

Which are turbid by
reason of the ice,

In which is hidden
the melted snow,

As soon as the waters
flow off they are gone;

When the heat comes,
they vanish from their place.

The caravans on their
way turn aside;

They go up into the
desert, and perish/

The caravans of Tema
search anxiously,

The wayfarers of
Sheba look to them with hope.

They are ashamed
because they trusted in them;

They come to them and
are confounded.'

Our English version
of the above passage fails to bring out the image distinctly. The Foregoing
translation, which I have brought nearer to the original, may be made clearer,
perhaps, by a word of explanation. The idea is, that in spring the streams are
full; they rush along swollen from the effect of the melting snow and ice.
Summer comes, and they can no longer be trusted. Those journeying in the region
of such streams, fainting with thirst, travel many a weary step out of the way,
in pursuit of them, in the hope that water may still be found in them. They
arrive at the place, but only to be disappointed. The deceitful brook has fled.
The sufferers were in the last extremity -- it was their only hope, and they
die.

Tema is a region in
the north of the Arabian Desert; Sheba a region of Arabia Felix. 'Caravans'
says Umbreit, from those particular places are mentioned to give life and
individuality to the picture.' The scene is laid in Arabia, because it is in
that country especially that travelers are liable to suffer from want of water.

Another passage where
we meet with the same comparison is that in Jeremiah 15:18. The prophet's sky
had long been darkened with trouble and sorrow; but the deliverer, for who
interposition he waited, delayed to come:

Why is my affliction
perpetual,

And my wound
incurable;

It will not be
healed.

Thou art to me as a
lying brook,

As waters which are
not enduring." (Hackett quote ends here)

Here we can see a
stark difference between Abraham and Lot. Abraham chose the land of the
deceitful brook over the well watered plains of the Jordan. He chose to rely on
God and this is what really captures life here in the hill country of Israel.

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About Me

Samuel Martin was born in England and is the youngest child of Dr. Ernest L. and Helen R. Martin, who are both Americans. He lived in the UK for the first 7 years of his life before moving to the USA with his family at age 7. He lived in the USA until 2001 when he married a native Israeli and relocated to live in Jerusalem. He and his wife, Sonia, have 2 daughters.
His experience with biblical scholarship began at an early age. His father initiated a program in conjunction with Hebrew Univ. and Prof. Benjamin Mazar, where over a 5 year period, some 450 college students came to work on an archaeological excavation in Jerusalem starting in 1969. Since that first trip, Samuel has visited Israel on 14 different occasions living more than 5 years of his life in the country. He has toured all areas of Israel as well as worked in several archaeological excavations.
Today, he has begun his academic career publishing 2 books dealing with biblical issues.
I write regularly on biblical subjects with a particular interest in children, families, nature, science and the Bible,and gender in the Biblical context.